Missiology and the Nature of Mission

Welcome to the very first of a series of posts on the theme of Missiology.  If some of your friends are like some of mine, they may well respond to that word ‘Missiology’ with an incredulous, ‘What?’  Part of the aim of this post is to bring clarity to the meaning of that concept and show the theme’s relevance to theology.

Missiology as an academic discipline

Missiology is actually a composite discipline made up of three areas of study; theology,  the social sciences and what the American missiologist van Rheenen calls strategy.  Needless to say, theology is foundational to Missiology because Scripture and the Christian experience of God are the driving force of the subject. Indeed, if one did not believe in a redemptive God who cared for his creation, one might justifiably conclude that there was little point in studying Missiology at all.

Assuming one understands why theology has to be part of Missiology, one might still be wondering where the social sciences and strategy fit in.  Well, the short answer is that the social sciences (and here we are thinking specifically about anthropology, sociology and psychology) are the tools by which individuals come to understand the cultural context in which mission takes place. One might say that in some respects culture is everything in Missiology because any effective mission has to involve successful engagement with the culture.  One does not effectively engage with anything unless one understands it.  Our study of David Bosch’s Transforming Mission will flesh that idea out.

Strategy makes up the third and final tier of Missiology.   This is the part of Missiology that concerns itself with developing appropriate mission strategies. As the lay out of  the diagram indicates – any workable strategy has its roots in a good theological understanding of God’s missionary concerns as well as a realistic assessment of the host culture. 

‘Strategies must not be rooted in mere pragmatism but developed upon the basis of theological insights and cultural understandings. Strategies without a firm theology and realistic cultural understandings are like sloughed-off snake skins – empty and useless. Gailyn Van Rheenen, Missions: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies

Not surprisingly,  some of the greatest Missiology texts are about the development of effective mission strategies. Vincent Donovan’s application of Roland Allen’s missionary principles to the Masai is a case in point. Actually, if there is a bedside Missiology book it’s probably Christianity Rediscovered by Vincent Donovan. The link below tells the amazing story of two Canadian missionaries whose ministry to the Sawi tribe resulted in a unique strategy being developed to proclaim the good news in this context.

That is the tripartite structure of Missiology.  Its history as an academic discipline is not a particularly noteworthy one, I have to say. If Missiology can be defined as ‘intentional and ongoing reflection on the practice of mission’ (Dr Cathy Ross), then one cannot but admit that this has come about ages after the practice began.  One might even call it a ‘Johnny Come Lately’ or ‘new kid in town’ of the theological disciplines.

The emergence of missiological thinking

Roman Catholic missionaries were the first to think critically about mission and we have as an example the 13^th century Spanish missionary Raymond Lull who came up with the idea of establishing colleges where future missionaries might be given linguistic and theological training for ministry among Jews and Muslims. 

In the wake of the Reformation the Lutheran Nicolai and the Calvinist Voetius wrote tomes on mission that paved the way for later studies though it has to be said that neither of them made a great impact within their own traditions. (Have you heard of them?) We may learn a bit more about that in a later post.  The point being made here is that there were individuals both within Catholicism and Protestantism who were thinking missiologically over the centuries,  but that it was not till the 19^th century that Missiology was taken at all seriously in the Protestant world.   

G. Warneck. Accessed from: http://www.bu.edu/missiology

The first hints of it becoming an academic discipline was in 1867 when Scottish missionary Alexander Duff was appointed to a new Chair of Evangelistic Theology in the University of Edinburgh. It proved to be a short-lived experiment, though, in that it was discontinued after Duff had moved on.  However, the man credited as the founder of modern missiological studies was the German Lutheran missionary Gustav Warneck. Warneck founded the Allgemeine Missions Zeitschrift, the first scientific missionary periodical in 1874 and was appointed to the chair of missionary science at the University of Halle in 1897.  Some scholars believe that Warneck’s missionary vision was so sound that principles developed recently at the Fuller Seminary School of World Mission had their true genesis in the work of Warneck.

  Warneck was from the Lutheran Pietist tradition and could be loosely identified with the evangelical wing of the church.

Influenced by Warneck’s work, the Roman Catholic church historian Joseph Schmidlin was appointed to the first chair of Catholic missiology at the University of Munster in 1914. Schmidlin became the father of Catholic missiology and died nobly as an opponent of the Hitler regime in a Nazi concentration camp in 1941.

Having noted that Missiology was finally launched as an academic discipline in the late nineteenth century, it must also be acknowledged that this was in itself something of a mixed blessing.  The reason why Chairs were established was not because theology was understood as being intrinsically to do with mission. Rather it was the result of rather profound pressure from mission societies, students and in one bizarre case, the German government urging that missiology attend to the colonial system.  So coming to the fore at the very height of the colonial age it was initially perceived as a kind of department of foreign affairs within the theology faculty.  Thus in its opening decades it failed to address as fully as it should have, its true subject matter.  Missiology has now moved on immensely since its rather inauspicious beginnings but it is still something of a peripheral theological discipline because of its relatively late arrival.  Notwithstanding this, it is now increasingly recognized as being an essential subject for theological and pastoral training. 

Mission

Perhaps the big idea that it is crucial to grasp before we can do any further thinking on the subject of mission,  is that mission’s importance for Christianity and its place in the Christian scheme of things is directly the inverse of Missiology’s place in the academic world.   Mission is absolutely fundamental to the church in a way that it is virtually impossible to exaggerate.

Mission, the translation of a Latin word meaning, ‘to send’, is an activity that is defined NOT by the implosion facing Christian churches in the West and their desperate attempts to do something (anything!) about that … but by the nature and character of God himself.  When Christians speak of God, the very word ‘God’ is shorthand for the Holy Trinity.  A writer called Ray Comfort wrote a book recently entitled ‘What Hollywood Believes About God’ and it recounts the vast range of understandings about God.  They range from the conventional to the very weird!  But as Christians, we  are not clutching at straws when it comes to defining God. The Scriptures, the ecumenical creeds and even our own experience offers us a true picture of God as the Triune God.

Trinitarian implications of mission

Rublev's Trinity c.1411 accessed wikipedia.org 

The reality of God as Trinity has two vital implications for our understanding of mission.  Firstly, God has to be understood relationally and communally: he is a God who shares relationship within himself.  There is interaction, mutual indwelling and mutual self-giving.  The Triune God is neither selfish, enclosed nor uncaring. It is the instinct of such a loving, relational Being to draw others into His circle of love.  We know that human relationships,  when they are sound and whole, seek to be open to others and to draw others in. That instinct is simply a reflection of our being created in the image of the Trinity.

‘The communion of the persons of the Trinity is not to be understood as closed in on itself, but rather open in an outgoing movement of generosity. Creation and redemption are the overflow of God’s triune life.’  Eucharistic Presidency 2.7

So from the standpoint of the inner dynamics of the Trinitarian life,  we can justifiably surmise that God is a missionary God who seeks to reach out and engage relationally with those who are outside of his love.  The proof of that, however, lies in the sending of the Son by the Father into a fallen and hostile world.  By that action we see that God’s basic interaction with his creation is a missionary one.  

God’s missionary purpose

Having said that, the question remains as to what exactly is God’s missionary purpose.  Here are two quotations which taken together offer a fairly full picture of that endeavour. I find them inspiring.

‘The mission, the ‘being sent forth’ of every Christian, is the same as the mission of Christ and the Spirit: to do the will and work of God, to proclaim the good news of salvation, to bring peace and concord, to justify hope in the final return of all things to God.’

  

‘God’s missionary purposes are cosmic in scope, concerned with the restoration of all things, the establishment of shalom, the renewal of creation and the coming of the Kingdom as well as the redemption of fallen humanity and the building of the Church.’

From both of those quotations it is very clear that the proclamation of God’s good news involves the evangelistic message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,  but the purpose of mission is not exhausted thereby. It involves also the establishment of God’s reign or Kingdom which is dynamic and world-changing. Mission is also Wilberforce helping to bring slavery to an end or the nuns of Mother Teresa incarnating the love of Jesus to those who are dying on the streets of Calcutta.  Indeed, all those great acts of mercy and love done in the name of Christ, throughout the world, are mission in practice.

In all that I have said about mission thus far, I have still left out one rather large piece of the jigsaw puzzle. God’s missionary goal of restoring and reconciling the fallen creation is predicated on one definitive course of events in human history. I mean the death and resurrection of Christ. It is through his saving death and his glorious rising from the dead that all these wonderful possibilities for reconciliation, wholeness and forgiveness are made possible.  We see this in the so-called Christological hymn from Colossians 1 and verses 19 and 20.

‘For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.’ 

I hope it is becoming very clear by now how absolutely central mission is not only to the nature and character of God, but to God’s purposes for the church.   As James Torrance put it,

‘The mission of the Church is the gift of participating through the Holy Spirit in the Son’s mission from the Father to the world.’

This has huge implications for how we ‘do’ church and how we interpret theology.  Take this statement from Martin Kähler cited by David Bosch.

‘Mission is the mother of theology... Theology began as an accompanying manifestation of the Christian mission.’  (Bosch p. 16 Transforming Mission)

Or consider this colloquial statement from Tim Dearborn which I think sums up perfectly what I have been trying to say today.

‘It is not the Church of God who has a mission, but the God of mission who has a church.’ (Dearborn,  Beyond duty: a passion for Christ, a heart for mission)

I want to begin bringing our opening foray into Missiology to a close by outlining three general principles which must apply to our understanding of mission if we are to take Scripture and church tradition seriously as guides to the practice of mission.  These have their provenance in our text book Transforming Mission. Reflect on their meaning and how you respond to them.

• Christian faith is intrinsically missionary. This is a trait which it shares with Islam, Buddhism and political ideologies.  ‘
• God’s mission is to every single part of his creation. 
• If a church defines mission only in terms of this worldly activities like promoting justice or only in terms of saving souls for the world to come, it is not being true to the true God. His mission has both worlds clearly in view.

The post culminates with an important statement about mission developed by the Anglican Consultative Council. It offers a thorough-going overview of the different elements of mission and has the same holistic thrust as the guidelines offered by David Bosch. 

Five Anglican Marks of Mission

• To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom;
• To teach, baptize and nurture new believers;
• To respond to human need by loving service;
• To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of     every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation; and
• To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.